What Happens In New York
by nikkicarter
Summary: A Hotch/Emily fic! They go to NYC to talk at a seminar about...well...serial killers...and hijinks ensue! May possibly turn into a crossover with Castle, or a case-fic, but also maybe not... Happy endings, definitely!
1. New York Here We Come

_A/N: OK, so obviously I'm mad at CBS and the Criminal Minds producers/writers for half-way killing off Emily, getting rid of JJ , and Jordan, and for putting in that blond chick who always has a pathetic look on her face to replace Emily and JJ in advance (for Emily), and I'm not going to even watch anymore. However, my brain still comes up with the weirdest ideas while watching reruns.…(or while eating dinner….but that's another story….), and I kind of liked this one, conceived at 1 AM. It's also a prompt if you're so inclined :)_

_OK-so Emily and Hotch go to New York City to teach a profiling seminar, like how Reid & Gideon went to L.A. that one time. Maybe Emily and Hotch catch a case, maybe they run into Castle and Beckett, maybe not. Haven't decided yet. Anyway, H&P end up having to share a room (UNLIKE Reid & Gideon! Sorry if you ship them, but that creeps me out….), and __**stuff**__ happens… ;)_

_ANYWAY…._

_Disclaimer: I own my injured leg and the cat sitting on it, (painfully!) Criminal Minds and all associated characters belong to CBS and writers/producers of Criminal Minds. Seriously. There is SO much I'd change if I owned that show! _

_FAIR WARNING: I hate Strauss. My stories almost always involve some sort of Strauss-bashing, or Strauss-bitching. I think Garcia hates Strauss too. If you disagree, well, sorry. This story is rated T for awesomeness, minor language and…feelings expressed… May be M later, but also maybe not. I'm not very good at writing smut…_

_(Longest A/N ever! Sorry guys!)_

_No more rambling. It's story time! (Heh. That sounded like the 'it's hammer time' thing…)_

"Agent Hotchner. My office." Strauss stalked through the bullpen like a pissed-off tiger. Hotch handed the file he was discussing with JJ to her and sighed. The team gave him sympathetic looks. "You too, Agent Prentiss," Strauss called. Emily smiled wearily at Morgan, and followed Hotch up to the Cubicle Of Hell, named by Garcia, who usually just called it COH. This sounded enough like a cough that Strauss never figured it out.

"Yes ma'am?" Hotch was always a gentleman.

"You've been requested to give a talk at a seminar in New York City."

"Ma'am-"

"I've thought it over and I feel it's a good idea. You need a break and we need to build a relationship with our New York counterparts."

"Ma'am-"

"This is not a discussion, Agent Hotchner. Your team can manage without you. Agent Prentiss, you will accompany him. Your flight leaves tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock."

"Yes ma'am," they both said. Really, they didn't have much choice. Erin Strauss truly was a force of nature, if a slightly malevolent one.

"Hey Garcia." Emily walked into the tech genius' self-named 'lair of knowledge'.

"How'd your meeting go?"

"How- Never mind. I don't want to know. Um, Hotch and I are going to New York for a few days to give a talk, thanks to Strauss, so if you guys catch a case you can reach us on our cells."

"Oh? You and Hotch huh? Unsupervised?"

Emily rolled her eyes at Garcia's matchmaking attempts.

"It's for work."

"Mmm-hmm. Well, you two might have some unexpected fun." She leaned toward Emily and whispered conspiratorially "Bring sexy underwear."

Emily laughed.

"It's Hotch!"

"Exactly. See you later Peaches, I have work to do."

"Why does that scare me?"

Garcia just grinned and shooed her away.

Emily left Garcia's lair and walked toward the break room with a sense of foreboding. Garcia had been trying to set her and Hotch up since Emily had accidentally revealed, under the influence of a LOT of alcohol, that she had a crush on Hotch. He was a great guy, after all. Beneath that stoic exterior she knew he had a sense of humor, and he was an awesome dad, and…..he was pretty hot, especially in those suits….

She blushed and spilled some of the coffee she hadn't even realized she was pouring.

"Ow!" Her hand was probably burnt.

"Everything alright, Prentiss?"

Crap! Hotch!

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm just a little….distracted." By you, she thought.

"Prentiss." He walked over, gently took the coffee cup out of her hand and handed her an icepack from the freezer. "It's 9 o'clock. You should go home, not have more coffee." He smiled at her. "We've got a flight to catch in the morning, remember?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. G'night Hotch." She yawned. She really was tired.

He hid another smile. "Good night, Prentiss."

As she walked downstairs, she ever wondered if someday they would be less formal with each other. She could call him Aaron and he could say 'Good night Emily.' Yeah, right, she thought. Don't kid yourself, Em. He's never going to date you. He has a child from his dead wife, he's your BOSS, and he's never shown any sign of being interested. Still, it would be nice to spend some time in New York with him. Maybe she would bring that sexy underwear, if only to appease Garcia.

_(Little did she know that in less than 24 hours, they would take that step…..)_

*Upstairs…..*

Hotch grabbed the coat off of the back of his chair, and was about to head out of his office with some case files when he saw Emily downstairs, packing up (and locking up) her desk. He remembered the bruises Morgan had collected when he agreed to spar with her after he'd eaten her chocolate. He couldn't walk straight for a few days, which Dave found hilarious. Besides the physical pain, Morgan had replaced her chocolate, and brought her flowers. Hotch smiled and shook his head. Emily could be very persuasive when she was mad.

He reflected on her reaction when he walked into the break room. He'd seen the blush, but he'd pretended not to. Had she been thinking about him? Was that she and Garcia had been talking about?

Hotch shook his head. Yeah, right, he thought. Like she would ever be interested in you. You have too much baggage, and a kid. Although, she really did love Jack, and he loved her back…..You're her BOSS, he thought. And not a very nice one at that. He cared about his team, but he was pretty cranky at times. He vowed to be nicer to Emily on this trip.

*In the Lair Of Knowledge….*

Garcia watched Emily and Hotch talking in the break room on the security cameras. Sure, hacking the system wasn't REALLY legal, but damn was it useful. She grinned at Emily's blush, and smiled when Hotch took care of her automatically. And….was that a smile? From the stoic bossman? Huh! Maybe she really would set them up on this trip. Nothing too big, just enlist the team, change a few hotel reservations…..Mr. and Mrs. Hotchner should work nicely…..

_Cue the_ _spooky music…._*_Dunh-dunh-dunh-duunnnhhhhhh…...!*_

_Ok, so not really much of JJ, Rossi, Morgan or Reid in this story. Sorry. Maybe they'll appear later. We'll see. Drop a smile if you like the beginning! Sorry for the outrageously long A/N!_


	2. Mornings Suck

_A/N: Yes! A chapter 2! For me, this is big! I write one-shots by the dozens, most of which I never get around to typing, but chapter stories? Psh, I have like one. And the rough drafts for this one are already WAY longer, though I still have to review them for lucidity. After I write + post the newest Castle Files tag. The ending of that episode? And that one middle part? *bangs head against wall* ANYWAY…..sorry if Strauss seems like a real bitch in this one. I mean, more than usual. Maybe her husband's cheating or something. Hey, that would make a good story addition…._

_Also-Not sure if Em is a morning person or not, so I made her just like I am in the mornings. Mornings suck. They really do._

_This is more of a story-set-up but it's important!_

_Disclaimer: Oh! Oh! Oh! Guess what? I still don't own it._

The music blared out of Emily's alarm clock at 5 AM the next morning, startling her out of a deep sleep. She growled at the flashing red numbers and hit the off button, trying to step out of bed.

Somehow, her legs got tangled in the sheets and she fell on the floor, hitting the side of her face on her bed-side table.

"I hate mornings," Emily grumbled, picking herself off of the ground. She dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast, only to find there was no edible food in her fridge. She opened a container of Thai takeout to check it.

"Eww."

Suffice to say, it was really old.

It went into the garbage, followed by a slice of pizza, ¼ of a carton of eggs, a burrito, and ½ a gallon of very-much-expired milk.

"Awesome." Airport food it was.

After going back upstairs, she looked in the mirror. There was a bright red mark on her face, one that would quickly form a bruise. Great. Now she was going to look beaten up. And Sergio was chewing her hairbrush.

Half an hour later, Emily walked out of the door with her go-bag…and without her keys. Not that it would have mattered, she realized, because her car's front tire was flat.

She called a taxi.

By the time she got to the airport, (they were flying commercial to cut back on costs), Emily barely had time to get her vital caffeine before she had to run to the gate.

Hotch was nowhere to be seen, so she asked the woman at the desk if he had boarded. She had to take out her badge to get an answer, and then had to assure her that no, Hotch was not a wanted criminal, she just couldn't leave without him.

Avoiding the sideways looks the other passengers gave her because of the red marks on her face, she handed her ticket to the boarding clerk.

"You OK, miss?"

"Yeah. I fell." Emily realized she sounded like a battered woman defending an abusive boyfriend. "Really. I'm not a morning person." She gave the man a small smile and he shrugged.

"Alright, miss. Here you go."

Finally on the plane, Emily sighed. Mornings sucked. She spotted Hotch at the back of the plane and walked toward him. He looked up at her, and shock and horror flooded his eyes.

"Emily! What happened?" He reached up to gently touch her face.

_Wow. It took an injury to get him to call me Emily, _she thought. "I fell out of bed and hit my face on a table. I'm not really a morning person."

Hotch would have laughed if he wasn't so worried about her.

"Wow," she said, "That sounded really stupid. I need to get a really good lie or the other half of the passengers are going to think you're my abusive boyfriend or something. Plus the lady at the ticket desk thinks you're a wanted criminal."

Now Hotch did laugh.

_Mission accomplished,_ thought Emily.

She sat next to him with a slight grin. This day was looking up already.

_A/N: Yay! Review to see what happens next, it's much funnier and based off a real story….which was not so funny at the time._

_Next Chapter : The appearance of….THE SEATMATE FROM HELL!_


	3. SMFH

_A/N: So this took so long to post because I left my draft (notebook) in my locker. Over the weekend. Could be the universe telling me to do homework, but fan fiction is much more interesting. Also, it took a while to get the Spanish beta-ed on ._

_Disclaimer: If I owned this show, Hotch/Prentiss, Morgan/Garcia, Reid/Austin, and JJ/ Rossi would be in established, actual relationships._

_Maybe Hotch doesn't speak Spanish in the show, but he does now. He is a superhero after all. I will call him….Eyebrow-Man, defender of truth and justice._

_Anyway._

Emily sighed for the fifth time in as many minutes. She'd been kind of looking forward to talking with Hotch on the plane. She rarely got to spend any time with him outside of cases. He never went to the bar or dinner with the team. So she'd been about to strike up a conversation…..when the seatmate from hell sat down. He'd introduced himself as Dan Jones, an advertising manager in New York City. He'd seemed nice enough at first, until he started to hit on Emily.

Hotch was getting steadily more annoyed at the man as he flagged down the flight attendant to buy a drink, again, and offered, also again, to buy Emily one too. Emily, to her credit, was still trying her hardest to be civil to him.

"Maybe we can get a drink, hmm, when we land? Where y'all stayin' in New York?"

Emily gave up.

"Ok, listen, Dan, I'm not going to go get a drink with you. This man is my husband and I would never cheat on him. I'm not interested, so stop hitting on me."

She glanced at Hotch, asking him with her eyes to play along. He put a possessive hand on her shoulder, nodding slightly.

"He do that to your face?" Dan wouldn't give up.

Emily felt Hotch tense beside her. She knew abuse was a touchy subject for him because of his father.

"No. He would never hurt anyone. But I might if you don't leave us alone."

Hotch almost laughed. Dan looked terrified.

"Alright, lady, sorry. Geez."

After a couple minutes of blissful silence, Dan struck up a conversation with the woman across the aisle.

Emily grinned at Hotch.

_Thanks,_ she mouthed.

He smirked at her. "Siempre."(Always)

Emily stared at him. "¿Desde cuándo usted habla español?" (Since when do you speak Spanish?)

"Aprendí cuando estaba trabajando para su madre. Casi al mismo tiempo que hizo." (I learned when I was working for your mother. Around the same time you did.)

Emily wrinkled her nose. "Pero, que solo estaban ahí dos veces por semana." (But, you were only there twice a week.)She looked at him sideways. "Usted aprendió por su cuenta." (You learned on your own.)

Hotch nodded. "Yo ... se va a tratar de impresionar a usted, en realidad." (I…..was going to try and impress you, actually.)

She smiled at him. "¿En serio?" (Really?)

"Sí. Tuve un poco de un flechazo a la hija del embajador." (Yeah. I had a bit of a crush on the ambassador's daughter.)

She laughed. "En serio?" (Really?)

"Eres muy hermosa, Emily." (You're very beautiful, Emily.)

Emily settled back into her seat, her smile growing wider. Hotch was so nice. And she really did like him calling her Emily.

Hotch saw the smile and thought that maybe he should call her Emily more often. That's what he called her in his mind after all. Yes, he decided. She was Emily from now on.

_A/N2: The seatmate from hell, or SMFH, is pretty much non-fiction. Stupid airplanes. Hotch is a little OOC, but he's resolved to be a very nice person on this trip._

_Evil bunny says 'review and help me destroy the universe!' I think he's just kidding though, right? Right? Anyway, review please :)_


	4. Mr and Mrs Hotchner

_A/N: Wow, this is shaping up to be really long, and I'm not even at the part that sparked the story yet._

_Disclaimer: Yeah, right, like I own the show. Us Hotch/Prentiss fans should form an army, though, and get Prentiss reinstated and married to Hotch. You guys would join, right?_

_Reviews are love!_

Emily and Aaron took a taxi from the hospital to their hotel. It was almost 4 pm, though the flight had only taken about an hour. They decided to check in, then go eat dinner somewhere.

The hotel lobby was beautiful, all golden paint and red carpeting. Emily walked up to the front desk.

"Good afternoon, ma'am, how can I help you?"

"My name in Emily Prentiss, this is Aaron Hotchner, we're checking in. We reserved two rooms yesterday?"

The woman at the front desk looked at her computer. "I'm sorry, ma'am, we don't have a room under your name, but there is one listed for a Mr. and Mrs. Hotchner."

Emily looked at Hotch, he looked back, just as confused as she. She turned back to the woman.

"There must be some mistake. This is Agent Hotchner, but I'm not his wife."

_Yet,_ thought Hotch.

_I wish, _thought Emily.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, that's what the register says. I can call my manager, if you'd like. We don't currently have any other rooms available, but I'm sure-."

Hotch glanced at Emily, then addressed the woman. "No, that's alright, we'll take it."

"We will?"

"We're both adults, Emily, and we've shared a room before."

The woman handed them two room keys. "Enjoy your stay!"

_A/N2: For future reference, in most hotels, one room equals one bed. *grins evilly* He he! Devious ;)_

_The next chapter will be longer, and more explanatory. Any guesses, though, on who changed the room reservation? _

_The evil bunny will destroy the universe if you DON'T review. So you should. 'Cause I wanna live._


	5. Justice Is Served

_A/N: 15 alerts! I love you guys! XD I have to say, I'm giving myself an award for this one. This is like, what, my second chapter story? Castle Files don't count, they're one-shots. *Banner falls from the sky* Thank you. Thank you very much. *Accepts award* _

_Random bystander: You know there are stories out there will 100's of chapters, right? Me: …shut up. XD Anyway…..the plot thickens! Thanks for all the reviews!_

_Bold/italic words are texting. Just italic words are thoughts._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my devious mind. XD_

Emily dropped her luggage on the hotel floor with a loud *thud*.

"Hotch."

"Hmm?"

"There's only one bed." Maybe it wasn't just mornings that she hated. Maybe it was just her wonderful luck. Not that she really _minded_ sharing a bed with Hotch, but she _definitely _wouldn't be able to sleep.

"There's probably blankets in the closet, I'll take the floor."

She turned around to him and raised her eyebrow.

"No, you won't. We're both adults here, as you pointed out. Besides, you had to share a bed with Rossi, this can't be any worse."

Aaron shuddered. "Good point." _Actually,_ he thought,_ this might be worse. At least with Rossi I wasn't tempted to do something he'd regret…._

Glancing at the clock, Emily sighed. It was only 4 PM, so she had quite a bit of bad-luck day left to get through. "We should get dinner," she said.

Aaron looked down at his travel clothes. No, he decided. No suit today. It wasn't like he hadn't noticed Emily's eyes on him when he wasn't wearing a suit on that Alaska case. And that was the point, wasn't it? "OK. You can get changed in the bathroom if you want, and I'll change out here?"

Emily nodded and dragged her bag onto a chair. She rummaged through it for something comfortable, but sexy. Because, that was the point, right? She walked to the bathroom with her low-cut red shirt and a pair of jeans, not noticing that she'd left her bag open. _Heh,_ she thought. Maybe she'd text Garcia to tell her she was sleeping with Hotch tonight.

Something tickled at the back of her brain. _Garcia. Had she…THE HOTEL RESERVATIONS! _ Oh, now it was revenge time. Emily smiled evilly as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

After Aaron changed, he went to close Emily's bag…..and on top of the pile of once-neatly-folded clothes was…something distinctly black and lacy. He gulped. He was so doomed.

Luckily, Emily didn't notice. When she came out of the bathroom she immediately grabbed her phone, a scheming smile on her face. She was distracted for a second by his clothing. Hotch….was not wearing a suit! _Wow,_ she thought. _He's really hot…..focus, Em! _

"What's going on?"

"I think….." She trailed off as she finished typing and snapped the phone shut. "I know why the hotel reservation was changed, Mr. Hotchner."

His eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't get a chance to ask because her phone vibrated.

"Oh, look who it is," she said, smirking.

"Who?"

She showed him.

_**TheAllKnowingGarcia says: WHAT?**_

When Emily didn't immediately answer, the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

"Aren't you going to pick it up?"

Emily grinned at him. "Eventually. Just giving her some time."

The second time the person who he assumed was Garcia called, she did pick up, winking at him, and turning around to walk a few steps away.

While her back was turned, Hotch took the time to admire the sight. _Wow,_ he thought. _Even in comfortable clothes she's hot….._ He was snapped back to reality by the sound of her voice.

"Hey Garcia."

Hotch winced and Emily held the phone away from her ear. Garcia sounded like she was screaming at Emily, but Hotch couldn't make out most of the words.

"Hey….hey…don't make me hang up on you….no, I'm not going to tell you…no….revenge is a bitch, huh? No, I'm not kidding…nope. Sorry love…..you'll have to wait…no….uh-uh. Bye, darling."

She turned back around to look at Hotch, her expression positively gleeful.

"Do I even want to know?"

"No, you absolutely don't. But justice had been served."

"Alright, then. Shall we go?" He offered her his arm, and she gave him a weird look. "We have to keep up appearances, you know. We are supposed to be married."

Emily nodded and took his arm. "True."

They walked out of the door, arm in arm.

_A/N: Mwahahahahahaha! I'm making you wait! Suckers XD Just kidding. I love you guys! I got so many nice reviews, too!_

_Reviews are love!_

_XOXO, _

_K (NOT GossipGirl! Seriously people!)_


	6. Let's Talk

_A/N: Sorry, this is not the ACTUAL date I was GOING to write. They will take that step a little later. They're going to eat very casual, which kind of bothers me 'cause Hotch doesn't seem like that kind of guy, he seems like the type to take her out somewhere…..but it works better with the story. So yeah. This chapter was actually really hard to write, to go from light-hearted to some actually serious issues. But, it needed to be done._

_Disclaimer: Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Like they would let me own anything. Stupid bastards. :(_

_ANYWAY…_

Though Aaron and Emily had both been planning to go out, they decided on Chinese takeout because of how tired they were. Now, here they were, sitting across the bed from each other, eating takeout cross legged and having a very awkward conversation. Both wanted to talk about something other than work, but neither wanted to bring anything up. Finally, Emily spoke up.

"Well, this is sad."

"What?"

"Here we are, in New York City, and NOT because people are dying, and all we can talk about is work?"

"Well, what do you want to talk about?"

Emily thought for a second, watching Hotch's face. Damn. He was unreadable. It scared her. Men she couldn't read scared her. Hotch was just-stone. He was dangerous to her. Not because she was ever on the business end of his gun, badge or controlled fury, but because he was a danger to her heart.

"Tell me something about you. You're the hardest to read of anyone on the team, so tell me something about you that I don't know."

Hotch paused a second. "Can I ask you a question first?"

She tilted her head. "Sure."

Hotch gathered his thoughts, not wanting to ruin the mood, but also really needing to know. "When Cyrus had you in that compound….why did you take the beating? Knowing that there was a group of FBI agents and deputies outside ready to run to your rescue, why did you let him hurt you?"

Emily sighed. She could see this emotion, it was all over his face. "You don't need to feel guilty, you know. It was my choice. And I'd do it again. Even knowing that you guys were out there, I'd still do it again. It was worth it, Hotch. We did something good that day. Saved lives. And, I knew you'd be there in time, if things got out of hand."

He looked down. "But they did. And we weren't. We….I had to listen to you take that beating and I couldn't-didn't do anything. I don't know what I'd have done if you'd died."

Hotch looked her straight in the eyes, and Emily's widened. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't apologize. It was my choice."

He reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes. Her heart stopped beating for a second.

_You idiot! _His brain screamed. _This is Emily! You work with her! You're her boss! What are you doing?_

He pulled his hand back, wishing to god that he wasn't so damn responsible.

Emily let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"We-we should probably get to sleep." She glanced out of the hotel window at the darkened sky.

"Yeah. Good night, Prentiss."

_Damnit,_ she thought. _Already back to last names. Well, what the hell._

"Good night Agent Hotchner. You could be a little less formal, you know. Technically, we are sleeping together.

He smirked at her. "Good night Emily."

She smiled at him, glad the tension in the air was gone. "Good night Aaron."

_A/N: That seemed like a good place to end it, what with all the UST. So, um, next chapter should be up soon, it won't take as long, I promise. Finals are here, and those put a bit of pressure on my writing time. 15 more days of school, though! Yay summer! _

_Reviews are love_

_XOXO,_

_K_


	7. Tensions and Reunions

_A/N: And we reach the precursor to what is to come :) CAUTION: Reading (beginning of) the following chapter may cause cavities. Please brush after consumption._

_Disclaimer: I guess you could sue me, but it would be rather pointless, seeing as I have no money. Suffice to say, it's not mine. Castle belongs to ABC, and CM belongs to CBS. _

_This is set maybe season 4 or 5 of CM, season 3 (mid) of Castle? No Seaver, JJ is there so is Prentiss, and Castle has not gotten to the season finale yet. However, in my Castle 'verse, there is NO JOSH!_

Emily woke up the next morning in a much nicer way than the day before. The alarm hadn't beeped yet, so she shut it off. She could wake Hotch in a few minutes. She stretched…and immediately stopped herself. Somehow, during the night, she and Hotch had gotten tangled up, her legs between his, his arms around her shoulders, holding her close to his chest. She could feel his breathing against her back, and when he woke up a minute later, she pretended to be asleep.

So there they lay, both awake, completely comfortable despite themselves. Hotch, though, being who he was, carefully disentangled himself a minute later, though he would have liked to stay forever.

Emily pretended to wake up when he tapped her shoulder gently.

"Time to get up and face the morning Emily. Guess I didn't set the alarm right."

"Mmm. Ok." Deciding to mess with him a bit, she added, "I was having the best dream…"

"Oh?" His eyes dared her to tell him.

She bit her lip.

There was a knock on the door.

_Saved by the bell,_ Emily thought, rolling out of bed. She walked to the door, looking through the peephole.

A man stood outside in a hotel uniform with a sheet-covered table behind him.

She turned to Hotch. "Did you order room service?"

He frowned, getting up. "No."

The man knocked again. "I have a delivery for a Mrs. Emily Hotchner, from a Miss Penelope Garcia?"

Emily glanced at Hotch and blushed.

_Mrs. Emily Hotchner, _he thought. _I like it._

She opened the door.

The man handed her a package and a bouquet of red roses.

She sighed. "Thank you."

"She also says: 'Good luck.'"

Emily gave him a tired smile and shut the door. She leaned against it, taking a second to stop and smell the flowers. Then she looked up at Hotch.

"This is really gonna suck, isn't it."

He suppressed a smile.

She inspected the package first to make sure it was not from some sex shop, or anywhere else equally embarrassing. It looked fairly innocuous, so she opened it.

"Oh, my…."

Emily pulled out a stunning red, strapless dress.

"She didn't…."

"Wow," said Hotch.

"She did," said Emily. She looked at him. "We need a revenge plan."

"We need to get dressed, first."

"Oh, yeah." Emily glanced at her clothing, blushing. She was only wearing her black short-shorts and a tank top, what she usually slept in, but she didn't usually sleep with her boss.

"And we're scheduled to talk today."

"Right." She looked at the clock. "We should probably get going soon." She grabbed her professional clothes out of her bag and walked over to the bathroom.

Hotch bit his lip. Damn. He'd thought he was making progress. He sighed. _I should probably get ready, too._

Hotch glanced at the woman brushing her hair in the mirror. She caught his eye and smiled. He smiled back, which completely threw Emily.

_What is up with Hotch?_ _He never smiles,_ she thought.

Seeing her brow furrow as she pulled her hair back, he asked, "What?"

"Oh…nothing."

Emily shook her ponytail and stepped out of the bathroom, grabbing her coat. "What are we talking about again? At the seminar?"

"Oh, reviewing a few old cases, taking a look at few of theirs, and talking a bit about what makes a serial killer."

"Aah. Easy stuff."

Hotch smirked. _Only Emily._

He let her walk out of the hotel room ahead of him, choosing instead to enjoy the view. Downstairs, they got into the SUV, falling into the normalcy of routine.

Hotch drove, Emily in the passenger seat, each sitting in comfortable silence with their own thoughts. Emily….was confused. Hotch was acting very un-Hotch-like. She had always suspected there was a fun loving guy under his professional exterior, but she rarely saw it. Had he figured out what Garcia had done? Did he know? He wasn't stupid, but Emily was pretty sure he didn't know that she liked him. Did he?

She could never tell with Hotch.

"Emily," his voice broke into her thoughts.

She turned to look at him.

"We're here."

They were, indeed, there. Emily got out of the car, looking up at the 12th precinct building, now even more confused. Since when did Hotch call her 'Emily'? Especially on the job? Not that she minded…..but still. It was weird.

They took the elevator up, Emily sneaking glances at Hotch, who was staring straight ahead. There were a few case files in his hands, and she knew that really, these 4 would take most of the day. Then they'd be back to review the NYPD's cases….not that she minded. She'd take this new Hotch for as long as she could.

The next few seconds were a blur to Emily. She stepped out of the elevator, still half-distracted, and caught a brief glimpse of a tall man before he crashed into her, and she fell backwards. Hotch caught her, but the case files dropped out of his hands and spilled all over the elevator floor.

"Ow," the man said, and Hotch glared at him. "I mean, sorry! I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and...sorry. You're the FBI, right?" Without waiting for an answer he continued on. "Detective Beckett's over there." He pointed in the general direction of the bullpen. He hurried off without bothering to help them clean up.

Emily sighed and knelt down in the elevator next to Hotch, sweeping up the files.

"Thanks," she said.

He looked up at her.

"For catching me."

He gave her a half smile before standing up and offering her his free hand.

She took it with a smile, and they stood for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few seconds.

Emily broke the spell first, shaking her head and looking away from him, feeling suddenly awkward. She walked towards where the policeman had pointed, determined not to let Hotch see her blush. He followed.

Emily reached the desk of the brown-haired detective, who was doing paperwork. She recognized her from a newspaper article on a big case she'd closed. There was a man sitting on the chair next to her, his back to them.

Hotch cleared his throat and the detective looked up.

"Agant Hotchner, FBI. This is Agent Prentiss. We're here for the seminar."

She stood up and the man turned around. "I'm Detective Beckett. This is Richard Castle, he consults on cases…." she trailed off, looking at Castle. He was grinning at Emily.

"Rick!"

"Emily!"

She hugged him. "I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, writing best-sellers, trailing a beautiful woman, laser tag battle with my daughter…how have you been? I just saw you in the news."

Detective Beckett glanced between the two of them, slightly thrown by Castle's 'beautiful woman' comment. "I….take it you two know each other?"

Emily glanced at Hotch. "I used to help Rick out with the criminals in his books, but we haven't each other in a long time."

There was a brief silence, tension filling the air.

Hotch cleared his throat again. "Is there a meeting room we could to set up?"

Beckett nodded, relieved. "Right this way."

Castle and Emily walked a few steps behind them, chatting about poker and writers. Hotch heard Emily laugh and a pang of….jealousy shot through him. No. That was ridiculous. He wasn't in a relationship with Emily, he had no right to be jealous.

Beckett lead them to an empty room with a bulletin board, table and chairs. Hotch set the case files down and thanked her. Emily hugged Castle again, and then he and Beckett left.

Hotch pulled out the first case photos without looking at Emily. After a few seconds, she sighed.

"What?"

"What?"

"What is up with you?"

"I…just haven't seen that side of you in awhile. You're not usually so…..demonstrative."

Emily paused for a second. Was he….? He was. "You're jealous!"

"I am not jealous, just….confused."

"Right. Well, you don't have to worry about Rick and me. I like someone else and he…..well, he's completely head over heels for that Detective Beckett. Just look at them."

She pointed out to the bullpen, where Castle was again, watching Beckett do paperwork.

Hotch shook his head. "I am not jealous."

He was, though. He really liked Emily, even if he wasn't ready to admit it. He'd been attracted to her for awhile, even before Haley died. After his divorce, he started positioning himself close to her during interviews and profile briefings. He always tried to sit next to or across from her on the plane. It would take a blind man not to notice how pretty she was, but it wasn't just her looks that he liked.

She was very smart, but not in a Reid way. Oh, he had no doubt she could pull a genius as well, but Emily was witty. She understood the job, understood how important it was to him. The job was part of him, and Emily got that.

He didn't know if she liked him, and didn't want to ruin what they already had by telling her anything. At least, not until he was sure, one way or another.

Hotch re-focused.

They had a job to do here, he could think about Emily when they got back to the hotel.

_A/N: Yay! Long chapter! Alright, so I'm going to do…a poll…of sorts….for the cases they review. __**What do you think the most interesting cases were on CM?**__ Not episodes, cases. Please tell me in a review. I'm going to choose the top five, and the next chapter will be up within the next 2 weeks. _

_Sorry it'll take so long. Finals suck. So yeah! Review, please. This was the last chapter that I had a draft for, so the next parts might take a bit longer to write. It's shaping up to be pretty long, though._


	8. Not Just One Time

_A/N: What a horrible delay. I really hate when people do that, and I just did. Yay for hypocrisy! Part of the reason is that, try as I might, I CANNOT write the seminar! It never sounds realistic! So, I'm really sorry guys._

_So here is my proposal:_

_If you think you can write the seminar, and you want me to put in in the story, PM it to me, and I will credit you and add a link to your profile in mine. The top 5 cases are: __**Cyrus**__ (compound, beaten-up Emily), __**Foyet **__(Haley's killer, Hotch arch-nemesis), __**Tobias Henkel **__(Multiple personalities, destroyed Reid mentally), __**Fisher King **__(Creepy team-stalker who thought he was a knight or something), and __**Frank**__ (Gideon's arch-nemesis)._

_Of course, you don't have to stick to these._

_Anyway, this picks up AFTER the seminar._

People left quickly after Hotch and Prentiss had finished. Sure, they saw murders every day, but most hadn't ever seen such horrible crimes, or known why and how serial killers became so….awful. You could see it in their eyes, they needed to come to terms with their views on humanity.

Both Hotch and Emily were used to this. Even the most hardened cops were shaken by these killers. Beckett seemed fine, or, at least, less bothered than most. She pursued the whys and hows in her investigations anyway. It was why she was such a good detective.

Beckett and Castle stuck around to help them clean up, Hotch and Kate in silence, and Emily and Richard in conversation.

Kate could feel the tension again. She was tense herself, not wanting to accept that what she was feeling was jealousy. Was this how she and Castle looked to outsiders? The easy banter, glances that last just a bit too long? Was it just her mind, showing her what she hoped….wished….desperately wanted not to be there?

Hotch was thinking along the same lines as Beckett.

The only people not aware of the electric air seemed to be Emily and Rick. They were too busy catching upon the years that had gone by. Emily was telling him a story about the team, Rick was laughing. She had described Reid's magic tricks, Garcia and Morgan's 'relationship', Rossi's exes…Rick had countered with tales of Lanie and Esposito, Ryan and 'honey milk'…..

Kate cleared her throat uncomfortably. "We're not _that _interesting, Castle," she said in an attempt to sound like her normal self.

He smirked at her, before addressing Emily. "And Beckett is the most interesting of all. She's secretly infatuated with me you know."

Beckett rolled her eyes at him. Emily laughed.

Hotch thought he could never tire of her that sound, though he wished he'd been the cause. He promised himself he'd try harder to make her smile. And maybe…just maybe….not stop next time. He'd felt her heart beat quicken when he was near her, when he brushed the hair off her face…but he'd stopped then, knowing that once they started, they wouldn't stop at all.

Maybe he'd have another chance when he went dancing with Emily tonight.

His thought were cut short with a hand on his arm. Hotch glanced up to see Emily looking at him, a little confused and worried.

"Are you alright? You were gone there for a minute."

"I…was just thinking."

She tilted her head at him, but he glanced away. Hotch noticed that the detective and her writer companion had already left the room, leaving him and Emily alone. He glanced out at the empty bullpen, and then looked down at her.

Emily saw his eyes darken and her breath caught in her throat. She tightened her grip on his arm, stepping closer.

His promise to himself flashed through Hotch's mind, that next time, next time he wouldn't stop. He leaned down to kiss her…

"Hey guys, do you want to get-" Castle walked in the door and Emily and Aaron pulled away from each other like they'd been burned. "Oh! Oh! Sorry….I'll…just…go get Beckett and some popcorn and my camera….continue on." He walked out quickly, grinning like an idiot.

Hotch cleared his throat, hoping Emily couldn't hear how husky his voice was. "Let's….let's go. I…..I….." He was at a loss for words.

"Let's just forget that anything happened," Emily murmured shakily.

Hotch looked at her quickly. "Do you want to forget what happened?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. I just….you're my boss. I…..don't want this to just be a one-time thing."

"Emily."

She looked at him.

"You will never be just a one night stand to me."

She stared at him. That…may have been the sweetest thing he'd ever said to her. No, she ddn't want to forget what happened, and what almost happened. But this was not the place.

"Let's just start over, and…go get drinks. I think that's what Castle was inviting us to."

He smiled at her.

"OK."

_A/N: Well, not EXACTLY what I was planning…..but it works :) Hehe I'm making you waaaaaiiiit. _

_Seriously, though, Castle has Daniel's AWFUL timing. (Stargate SG1 reference) _

_Next chapter will be up soon, I promise. In the mean time, please review!_

_Reviews are love :)_

_K_


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